Russian Paper Producer to Phase Out Ancient Forest Use
12/19/98
OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by EE
A major Russian paper producer will phase out the use of ancient
forest wood in its production in response to their increased awareness
of the threat that Russia's primary forests are facing. Apparently
maps and other information inserted by Greenpeace into the decision
making process had a positive impact and is partially responsible for
the course of action.
g.b.
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Greenpeace Satellite Mapping Moves the First Major Paper
Producer to Phase Out Ancient Forest Use
Source: Greenpeace
Status: Distribute freely, with proper credit given to source
Date: December 17, 1998
Moscow, 17 December 1998 - A major paper producer in Russia,
Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill announced today that it will phase out
the use of ancient forest wood in it production entirely. Svetogorsk
announcement is first of its kind in the world.
New maps produced by Greenpeace and Biodiversity Conservation Center
showing the decline in ancient forests based on satellite images have
served as a major source of information in establishing this policy.
Greenpeace hailed Svetogorsk announcement as a major step to protect
the ancient forests in Russia.
"80 per cent of the large ancient forest areas are already gone and
most of the remaining areas could be gone in our life time," said
Greenpeace International forest campaign coordinator Christoph Thies.
"The decision of the Svetogorsk mill shows that it is possible to
protect these forests and continue industrial production."
The Svetogorsk mill which is located in Leningrad region on the
Finnish-Russian border will introduce a major provision in its policy
which will ensure that no wood from ancient forests is processed.
"People are only now starting to understand the importance of ancient
forests to the biodiversity," said the deputy chief of forestry
department of Svetogorsk pulp mill Reino Kotti. "In our opinion it is
important also for the industry to respect the needs of the
environment."
Key to the Svetogorsk announcement was the geographical information of
Greenpeace. "Our commitment to ancient forest free production would
have been impossible without the information provided by Greenpeace,"
said Reino Kotti. "Now we are able to show to our suppliers exactly
which areas should be protected."
Greenpeace used satellite technology and on-the-ground verification to
produce detailed maps showing forest areas down to 20 000 hectares in
size. "Our maps give companies and governments unique information that
can be use to protect these forests," said Alexey Yaroshenko, the
forest campaigner of Greenpeace in Russia. "We will provide this
information to companies using wood products in Russia and in Europe
so that they can demand ancient forest free products from their
suppliers. We have already sent copies to companies in Sweden,
Austria, Germany, UK and in the Netherlands."
"The information provided by our GIS mapping project is startling."
said Christoph Thies. "With a one glance anyone can see that ancient
forests in western Russia are getting smaller and more fragmented
every day."
There are still more ancient forests left in Russia than in any other
country in the world. But especially in European part of Russia the
forest are threatened by fragmentation caused by industrial logging.
Svetogorsk pulp and paper mill is owned by a Swedish Tetra Laval and
it produces 180 000 tonnes of printing paper per year. 70 per cent of
the production is exported to Europe and Americas.
Greenpeace on the Web : http://www.greenpeace.org
Note:
Fact sheet about Svetogorsk.
The full name of the pulp mill is Svetogorsky Pulp and Paper Mill.
Svetogorsk is one of the biggest Russian P&P mill located in the
Russian-Finnish border in Leningrad region.
The annual wood usage from 1.1 to 1.4 million m3. It comes from
Northern European part of Russia. The products are A4 paper, tissue,
liquid paper and pulp.
The annual volume of paper is more then 180 000 tones. The abroad
export is approx. 70% to Europe, Americas etc.
The P&P mill was owned by Tetra Laval. Now Tetra is in negotiation
with International Paper (IP) which is going to buy Svetogorsk.
It is one of the few Russian companies which still "stays" in crisis
situation. Svetogorsk is going to make a declaration on guarantee no
wood from ancient forests which are recognized and put on the map base
by Greenpeace and other ENGOs is processed.
The amount of ancient forests in Northern European part of Russia is
from 5 to 15% and mostly located in far regions.
Svetogorsk already made declaration on guarantee no wood from
potential ancient forests in Karelia and Murmansk. The main task in
the project is creation of the control system. It will take a period
of time.